Egypt national team coach Hossam Hassan revealed that Mohamed Salah was suffering from a minor injury before the last Mauritania match, which was one of the reasons for his exclusion from playing.
Salah participated in the Cairo match against Mauritania in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, where he scored a goal during the Pharaohs’ 2-0 victory.
Days later, Hossam Hassan decided to exclude Salah by agreement between them due to the difficult Mauritania stadium, which is made of artificial turf, which is easy to sustain a major injury on.
Egypt won the second leg against Mauritania thanks to Ibrahim Adel’s goal and in the absence of Salah, and Hossam Hassan spoke about the Liverpool star’s non-participation.
The Egyptian coach said, “Salah is not an ordinary player, he is one of the most important players in the world, and I respected his desire not to play the match.”
He also added, “Salah has a minor injury and the medical staff at Liverpool advised him not to play on artificial turf.”
He concluded, “I decided to keep Salah because the Egyptian national team needs him in the coming period, as well as Liverpool, and I decided not to participate in the match and for him to get some rest.”
